STEM toys and Maker Workshops for Christmas

This Christmas toys that promote skills in science, technology, math, and engineering (a category in the toy industry known as STEM) are the rage this holiday season. A large number of these STEM toys target girls with toys such as Roominate and GoldieBlox.

With Canadian children far behind students in STEM skill in places like Shanghai, China , schools should also be looking for more ways to encourage open-ended play involving problem solving, mathematical thinking, curiosity and question-asking. Curriculum which focuses on exploration and open-ended tasks are still not as prevalent as they should be in schools but have been showing up more in metropolitan communities that host “maker workshops” with names like Dorkshops, Techshops, Hackerspaces, Hacklab.

In Toronto various maker fairs target children. Check out TVO’s coverage on one such fair (September 2013):